Ancient Japan Study Guide: Jomon Culture to Sengoku Period - Prof. Larissa Kennedy, Exams of Asian literature

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Jomon Culture (1500-250 BCE)  rope style pottery  at this time, Japan was making pots, while the Chinese had a government and were already writing.  Nomatic: followed food, weren’t farmers  Few signs of violent conflict  Developed hierarchy (found by how they were buried, how much stuff they were buried with)  Peaceful, nomatic society, making pottery.

Yayoi (250BCE-300CE)  They came from the southern tip of Korea/China? Refugees from Chin?  Brought agriculture with them, cultivated food (rice) made permanent communities  Had metal tools, weapons, cloths, mirrors, decorative ornaments  Introduced horses to Japan, still no writing in Japan at this time.  There was an elite class, survived on the work of the farmers  This elite group had defense, someone had to protect the store houses  Built moats, lived on hilltops (easily defendable), had weapons  Evidence of violent deaths  Towards the end, more varied tombs, the gap between elite and everyone else was growing

Kofun (Tomb Period)  Spurred another wave of immigration, merged by yayoi and society developed  Significance of Tombs (large, keyhole shaped) o Tended to be on farmable land, using farmland for tombs o Statement of importance of people being buried o Demonstrates wealth and power (enormous tombs) o Was a huge public works project, tombs were filled with valuables o Indicates that there was a leadership class  Grave goods o Found pottery, stone figures, replicas of people, storehouses, and dwellings o Mirror, swords, and jade were found in Yamato’s kings grave  these specific items were used to denote power.  Mirror: represents sun  Sword: power  Jade  Fixed heredity groups: you couldn’t move from the group you were born into  Ugi: leader group…their ancestors were deities  Communities had their own ugi hierarchy- got there by making alliances, deals, good farmland etc.  Yamato family claimed to be the highest ugi.  Amaterasu: the sun goddess, they claimed that their ancestors, the sun goddess, was the most powerful. ancestor represented by a mirror this the only dynasty still (yamato family)  highest god  Most people belonged to be  service class  Their job was to supply the ugi with food, tools, weapons, warriors, priests, and scribes (people that could read/write Chinese and those tended to be Chinese immigrants.
 Kamakura period  Failed because of weather, groups were dis satisfied with government  No true central authority

Onin War  War the determined who would be Shogun  Happened in Kyoto  Found within the Ashikaga  It ran Kyoto out of money allowed for the Daimyo to take over

Samurai=warriors  Ashikaga  Taken away from their land daimyo attempting to control them  “come live in my castle and ill pay you a salary”

Sengoku Period (warring states)  1477-1598  Social Upheaval (daimyo/samurai) o A lot of feudal families were wiped out o Samurai moved to different families, they were warriors during this time period o No central authority o Lineage wasn’t important o Military force and alliances were the main importance o Owning land wasn’t important o Fighting to be shogun

Oda Nobunaga  Skilled military leader  Known for cruelty on the battlefield  Had his eye on western weapons  Friended Christian missionaries (Jesuits) brought Christianity into Japan and in return the Jesuits gave him powerful weapons  Destroyed enemies, killed enemies and families, complete submission  “committed suicide” in 1582, someone forced him to…one of his former allies  before he died, he unified 2/3 of Japan by killing people who opposed him and forced allies to submit to his will.  Set up political institutions  Set up bureaucracy to collect taxes. Instead of a Samurai collecting, he hired specialized tax collectors  If a village was good about paying taxes he left them alone and didn’t bully them  He would move people around to different classes/different locations  Land ownership= power  Began disarming peasants. Created a sharp boundary between Samurai and everybody else

Toyotomi Hideyoshi  Rose up in society no family name  Was a soldier for Nobunaga, assumed the head of the army, anyone who disagreed with him he attacked but allowed for people to sign an oath to obey him  Hideyoshi unified all of Japan through military force and by retaining Nobunagas rule  Required that Daimyo provide their Samurai to help him  Had Daimyo help pay for public services…roads, castles, etc  Daimyo were only allowed to own one castle all others had to be torn down and used those materials to build Hideyoshi castles  He froze society in place which led to stability  Emperor/shogun didn’t exist, weren’t fighting to be shogun. Hideyoshi was just a powerful war lord.
 Emperor  Shogun  Daimya(feudal lords)  Samurai  Everyone Else